Apple introduced macOS 26 at its annual worldwide developers conference in June. The OS brings its Liquid Glass design to the Mac, the opinions on the design remain controversial with some appreciating the added hue whereas some find it as an impediment in terms of ease-of-use. Regardless, the update is coming, whether you like it or not, but if you do not like it, you can skip the update altogether but probably not for long, if you wish to keep your Mac secure with the latest security patches.
An important point for long-time Mac users and especially the ones who continue to use the Intel-based Macs is that macOS Sonoma will be the last major macOS update to the Intel-based Macs. All future releases of macOS will not support the older-gen Intel-based Macs. It is a long-time coming move, as Apple has moved on from the Intel-based chips in the Mac to its own silicon introduced in 2020. The M-series Macs are power-efficient yet offer higher raw performance which Intel still continues to struggle with. The switch to ARM based architecture definitely helped Apple build the M-series chips, using the power efficiency techniques which ARM mastered in the smartphone category.
ARM is the future, x86 is dead
Apple’s switch to M-series chips for the Mac has been one of the most subtle but useful innovations in recent years. On the other hand, Windows continues to struggle with the x86 architecture but having introduced the ARM architecture on its platform with partial and compatibility issues, ARM continues to be a failure on Windows. It is ridiculous that Windows introduced support for ARM back in 2012 with its Windows 8 RT version, however it struggled to scale, likely because the ARM architecture was still in its nascent stage or because Microsoft could not handle the transition. Apple, on the other hand, waited for the right moment (what is the right moment?) and its first ARM chip offered a massive increase in performance while being extremely efficient.
The M1 MacBook Air was a revolutionary product with excellent battery life and stupendous performance. The future is now all ARM, at least for the Mac. If you are still on the Intel version of the Mac, it is likely time for you to consider upgrading.
